LEGO Sonic is doomed to repeat LEGO Marvel history

LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog’s first 18+ set forgets Marvel’s history and ends up doomed to repeat it, ignoring the franchise’s main character to latch on to what’s hot right now.

Believe it or not, the first buildable bust coming to the LEGO Sonic theme is not the Blue Blur himself, but Shadow the Hedgehog, a darker and edgier character who divided critics with his first full game in 2005. Revealed by The Hollywood Reporter ahead of San Diego Comic-Con, 77000 Shadow the Hedgehog (final set number and name to be confirmed) serves up a set unusual in both subject and style.

There’s one obvious reason we’re getting Shadow before Sonic: the anti-hero is set to appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which debuts in cinemas in December this year, voiced by Keanu Reeves. The LEGO Group is presumably hoping to ride a renewed wave of popularity for the character. But for a theme titled Sonic the Hedgehog, and with Sonic still front and centre in the threequel, wouldn’t he have made more sense for a first bust?

We’ve been here before with LEGO Marvel. In 2021, the LEGO Group followed up 76165 Iron Man Helmet with buildable busts of Venom and Carnage, with a knowing wink and nod to superhero sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage (without actually having to licence products for that Sony movie). Those models were undoubtedly driven by their respective characters showing up on the silver screen – but the end result was that we somehow got Spidey’s symbiotes before the web-slinger himself.

The LEGO Group eventually rectified that in 2024 with 76285 Spider-Man’s Mask, so chances are good that we will see Sonic at some stage (especially if 77000 Shadow the Hedgehog is received well). Yet this desire to steer towards the zeitgeist at the cost of a franchise’s most iconic characters feels like a microcosm of a wider issue for the LEGO Group’s licensed themes – with perhaps one major exception.

When the LEGO Marvel and DC themes first arrived in 2012, they conquered store shelves with a mix of sets inspired by movies old and new, TV shows, comic books and products of the LEGO Group’s own invention. Nothing was off the table, and we ended up with some really deep cuts from the superhero pantheon (see Gorilla Grodd, Hyperion and Killer Moth, among many, many others).

Smash cut to 12 years later, and LEGO DC has been solely LEGO Batman for years, with endless rehashes of ‘Batman, Joker and Bat-vehicle’ clogging up shelves, while Marvel has been relegated to reminiscing over the more successful years of the MCU in between new movies. Gone are the days of fun and original sets with loose ties to superhero canon or comic books, in favour of the movies kids are watching in cinemas or on Disney+.

There are exceptions to the rule every now and then, but the belief within the LEGO Group is seemingly that for any superhero set to be successful, it needs to be hooked to something already permeating cultural consciousness. It’s no coincidence that LEGO Marvel returned to X-Men this year, with X-Men ’97 landing on Disney+, or that LEGO DC is finally rumoured to be bringing back Superman in 2025 (six months ahead of James Gunn’s Superman movie dropping in cinemas).

That need to cling to what’s hot right now is manifesting in different ways: it’s kept LEGO DC stale for longer than we care to remember, with a clear lack of confidence in characters beyond Batman (even this summer’s Animated Series sets still feel like the DC team playing things safe); it’s given us Venom and Carnage busts before Spider-Man; and it’s now bringing us a Shadow bust before Sonic.

But regardless of whether it prompts a theme to lean into or away from more obscure characters, it’s still guiding the LEGO Group’s hand in bizarre directions, and 77000 Shadow the Hedgehog is only the latest example. As for that exception: well, it’s Star Wars, isn’t it? The sole Andor set feels proof positive that the LEGO Star Wars team is happy to do its own thing regardless of what audiences are responding to, for better or worse.

We’ll hopefully find out more about 77000 Shadow the Hedgehog when San Diego Comic-Con gets underway tomorrow. Keep an eye on Brick Fanatics for all the latest news from California.

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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